The persistence and transformation of tradition in Southeast Asia, with special reference to Thailand
SJ Tambiah - Daedalus, 1973 - JSTOR
SJ Tambiah
Daedalus, 1973•JSTORTradition is a word much used by politician and scholar, conservative and radical, priest and
rebel. It is used most of the time in an uncritical" ahistori cal" sense to denote some kind of
collective heritage that has supposedly been transmitted relatively unchanged from the past.
By conceiving of tradition in this way, two things tend to be forgotten: that the past was,
perhaps, as open and dynamic to the actors of that time as our own age appears to us; and
that the norms, rules, and orientations of the past were not necessarily as consistent, unified …
rebel. It is used most of the time in an uncritical" ahistori cal" sense to denote some kind of
collective heritage that has supposedly been transmitted relatively unchanged from the past.
By conceiving of tradition in this way, two things tend to be forgotten: that the past was,
perhaps, as open and dynamic to the actors of that time as our own age appears to us; and
that the norms, rules, and orientations of the past were not necessarily as consistent, unified …
Tradition is a word much used by politician and scholar, conservative and radical, priest and rebel. It is used most of the time in an uncritical" ahistori cal" sense to denote some kind of collective heritage that has supposedly been transmitted relatively unchanged from the past. By conceiving of tradition in this way, two things tend to be forgotten: that the past was, perhaps, as open and dynamic to the actors of that time as our own age appears to us; and that the norms, rules, and orientations of the past were not necessarily as consistent, unified, and coherent as we tend to imagine.
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